Lemon Cheesecake Mousse Tart

I just love being on vacation - I actually have time for blogging and cooking and baking! Its so enjoyable and I feel like I'm a far better blog owner when I'm not just trying to get a post up for the sake of posting.  I've taken some time off between Christmas and New Years and it has been really nice - my family is staying with us so I've had a chance to "show off" with some delicious meals and some new recipes. This lemon cheesecake mousse tart from Anna Olson's cookbook In the Kitchen with Anna is a great dessert for occasions like this - where you want people to ohhh and ahhhh over the dessert and rave about it for a while. Its so delicious and really very simple to whip up. And of course, I have to mention how few ingredients this recipe has in it - you'll probably have a lot of them on hand already.

Lemon Cheesecake Mousse Tart
Recipe adapted from In the Kitchen with Anna

Crust Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
• 1/4 tsp fine salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces and chilled
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk

Mousse Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups whipping cream
• 12 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• dash vanilla extract
• raspberries, for garnish

Method:

1. For the crust, stir the flour, sugar, lemon zest and salt to combine. Pour into the food processor and  add butter. Pulse until the mixture has the texture of coarse meal. Add the egg and the yolk and process just until the dough comes together. Shape the dough into a disk and chill for at least an hour.
2. On a lightly floured surfact, roll our dough to just less than 1/4 inch thick (this didn't work for me, so I just pressed the dough into the tart pan and up the sides). Sprinkle an 8 inch tart pan with a removable bottom lightly with flour and line with pastry. Trim the edges and chill for an hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350F. Place tart shell on a baking sheet. Dock the bottom of the pastry with a fork, line the shell with foil and weigh down with dried beans, rice or pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes then remove the weights and bake for another 8-10 minutes, or until the centre of the tart shell appears dry and the edges are browned. Let cool while preparing the mousse.
4. For the mousse, whip the cream to soft peas and chill. In a separate bowl beat the cream cheese until smooth and beat in the sugar and lemon zest, scraping down the sides of the bowl often. Beat in the lemon juice and vanilla. Fold in the whipped cream in two additions. Dollop the mouse (or pipe with a piping bag) into cooled shells. Garnish with fresh raspberries and chill until ready to serve. Gently remove outside ring and bottom of tart pan before plating.

You could also make 8 4-inch mini tarts instead of one big one if you want something cute for a dinner party. Hope you enjoy this recipe!! I'm heading off to enjoy my last weekend of freedom before I have to head back to work.

I've linked up this post with Whatcha Baking Wednesday over at CajunSugarPie.Com - head on over there to check out some more scrumptious dessert recipes to test out (or even just drool over if you're into that!).

Happy Baking my Friends!